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San Francisco, 11:44 AM
Wed Dec 16
25 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Dresan Dresan
    12/15/09

    In reply to Accidental Supervillain on Trial for Causing Earthquakes
    "Supervillain by Accident" should be the title of a movie that must be done.
     Reply
    Dresan was starred Dresan was unstarred
    Image of ManchuCandidate ManchuCandidate
    12/15/09

    In reply to Accidental Supervillain on Trial for Causing Earthquakes
    Is there going to be a new town called Uterville?
     Reply
    ManchuCandidate was starred ManchuCandidate was unstarred
    Image of Roklimber Roklimber
    12/15/09

    In reply to Accidental Supervillain on Trial for Causing Earthquakes
    3.4 in the Richter scale? That's nothing. California gets hit by dozens of 3.x quakes every day.

    Recent quakes in California and Nevada (updated every hour or within 5 minutes of a large quake)
    [quake.wr.usgs.gov]
     Reply
    Roklimber was starred Roklimber was unstarred
    Image of Ryuku Ryuku
    12/15/09

    @Roklimber: Just don't tell Arnold, he'll sure to find a guilty party and make it pay the state's debt.
     Reply
    Roklimber promoted this comment Ryuku was starred Ryuku was unstarred
    Image of Bill-Lee Bill-Lee
    12/15/09

    @Roklimber: I live in the Bay Area. I think we've become jaded, because even more noticeable Earthquakes barely garner a reaction. Some friends and I were eating out one night and there was a noticeable tremor. Didn't even stop people from eating. Some people held onto their glasses to keep them from tipping over.
     Reply
    Bill-Lee was starred Bill-Lee was unstarred
    Image of NerD: Blattella NerD: Blattella
    12/15/09

    @Bill-Lee: I don't think it's being jaded. There just needs to be a serious one to really make it stand out.

    The last one I remember was 3 months ago, it was a good shove, and that was it.

    Disappointing really.
     Reply
    NerD: Blattella was starred NerD: Blattella was unstarred
    Image of Roklimber Roklimber
    12/15/09

    @Bill-Lee: I know what you mean. I lived in Orange County (Southern CA) for over 10 years. My first 4.2 woke me up real good. Another 4.5 happened when I was playing chess online and my opponent (who was in some other part of the state) also felt it. My desk and computer monitor shook quite a bit, but not enough to get me out of my house. A couple more 4.x and I stopped caring altogether.
     Reply
    Roklimber was starred Roklimber was unstarred
    Image of Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
    12/15/09

    @Roklimber: My thought was "3.4? How did they even notice it? Much less $9 million damage and extrapolating to possible $500m?"
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of Roklimber Roklimber
    01:13 AM

    @Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.: My thoughts too. Quite an exaggeration, no?
     Reply
    Roklimber was starred Roklimber was unstarred
    Image of lazyeight lazyeight
    05:47 AM

    @Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.: It's entirely posssible that there was $9M or more in damages. Don't forget that the buildings there are old, for the most part. Picture construction consisting of building blocks (granted, big effin stone ones), with no structural components other than arches and gravity. When they move, they stay moved. It's like the devestation one hears about when there are quakes in Turkey - the damage and loss of life is exacerbated by the type of construction (basically, mud bricks)CA didn't start taking seismics seriously until the 20th Century.I remember when the LA City Hall was the tallest bldg downtown, and the hue and cry when Arco built the twin towers (which are now lost in the skyline, and go by another name) about how they'd act in an earthquake. Worse yet is the mud volcano in (Phillipines?, Sumatra?) that was started by drilling and continues to flow (as the Spice must).
     Reply
    Edited by lazyeight at 12/16/09 5:48 AM lazyeight was starred lazyeight was unstarred
    Image of omgwtflolbbqbye omgwtflolbbqbye
    12/15/09

    In reply to Accidental Supervillain on Trial for Causing Earthquakes
    Great, he already has the tech, now the Swiss courts are going to give him a motive to put on spandex and take his revenge.
     Reply
    omgwtflolbbqbye was starred omgwtflolbbqbye was unstarred
    Image of Belabras Belabras
    12/15/09

    In reply to Accidental Supervillain on Trial for Causing Earthquakes
    I think they will have trouble proving the 'deliberate' part.

    That said, he should have invested in more Kyptonite.
     Reply
    Belabras was starred Belabras was unstarred
    Image of Cory Gross Cory Gross
    12/15/09

    @Belabras: Yeah, it's not really deliberate... What would be the supervillain earthquake-machine version of manslaughter? Public mischief?
     Reply
    Cory Gross was starred Cory Gross was unstarred
    Image of Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
    12/14/09

    In reply to Octopus Uses Coconut Shells as Portable Armor
    This is cool.

    Octopodes seem to be much smarter than they need to be to survive. How did they get that way? Should we welcome them into the Federation?
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of Julius Seizure - Canuck Julius Seizure - Canuck
    12/14/09

    In reply to Octopus Uses Coconut Shells as Portable Armor
    So I guess we shouldn't be tossing small arms and tactical nukes into that part of the ocean then.
     Reply
    Julius Seizure - Canuck was starred Julius Seizure - Canuck was unstarred
    Image of RandomFrequentFlierDent RandomFrequentFlierDent
    12/14/09

    @Julius Seizure - Canuck: io9 has already covered the most obvious outcome of such actions.

    [io9.com]
     Reply
    RandomFrequentFlierDent was starred RandomFrequentFlierDent was unstarred
    Image of NerD: Blattella NerD: Blattella
    12/14/09

    In reply to Octopus Uses Coconut Shells as Portable Armor
    There was a story the marine biologists used to tell at my university about how the the octopus tank always had rat bones in it when they cleaned it out.

    They decided to set up a camera to film what happened when the octopus was left alone, and it turned out that the octopus was catching roaches and using the roaches as bait to catch rats.

    I have nothing but the greatest respect for octopi.
     Reply
    Edited by NerD: Blattella at 12/14/09 2:32 PM NerD: Blattella was starred NerD: Blattella was unstarred
    Image of Althestane Althestane
    12/15/09

    @NerD: Blattella: that kind of cephalopodic action inspires respect?? That better be the "I fear this thing and it's capabilities and wouldn't even dream of pissing it off" kind of respect.

    I'd heard of another tale where the octopus liked companionship and getting attention, and for some reason the electricity in the tank room kept shorting out. Turns out the animal was squirting water out of the tank and into the sockets at night so people would come into the tank room. That's a level of manipulation that I don't want to see anywhere in the chepalopod family!
     Reply
    Althestane was starred Althestane was unstarred
    Image of NerD: Blattella NerD: Blattella
    12/15/09

    @Althestane: Fear and respect are not that far apart. I'd worry about the first cephalopod-committed homicide.
     Reply
    NerD: Blattella was starred NerD: Blattella was unstarred
    Image of FrankenPC FrankenPC
    12/14/09

    In reply to Octopus Uses Coconut Shells as Portable Armor
    I'm convinced after humans are long gone, Octopi will rule the earth. Long live Cthulhu's children!
     Reply
    FrankenPC was starred FrankenPC was unstarred
    Image of Hamslicer Hamslicer
    12/14/09

    In reply to Octopus Uses Coconut Shells as Portable Armor
    And who cut it so neatly in half for them?
     Reply
    Hamslicer was starred Hamslicer was unstarred
    Image of hamshank hamshank
    12/14/09

    @Hamslicer: exactly - they're nothing without us.
     Reply
    Hamslicer promoted this comment hamshank was starred hamshank was unstarred
    Image of Rocketknight Rocketknight
    12/14/09

    @Hamslicer: Again, those coconut shells are frequently tossed into the ocean by humans. THAT is how they get so cleanly cut.
     Reply
    Rocketknight was starred Rocketknight was unstarred
    Image of Hamslicer Hamslicer
    12/14/09

    In reply to Octopus Uses Coconut Shells as Portable Armor
    If they had made a coconut bra, then I would be impressed.
     Reply
    Hamslicer was starred Hamslicer was unstarred
    Image of queensowntalia queensowntalia
    12/14/09

    In reply to Octopus Uses Coconut Shells as Portable Armor
    Came to make a Monty Python reference, see I am far, far too late. :)
     Reply
    queensowntalia was starred queensowntalia was unstarred
    Image of Roklimber Roklimber
    12/14/09

    In reply to Octopus Uses Coconut Shells as Portable Armor
    They also open jars.
     Reply
    Roklimber was starred Roklimber was unstarred
    Image of Rocketknight Rocketknight
    12/14/09

    @Roklimber: That was pretty awesome, although I have to wonder why the octopus keeps the jar lid. o_O How odd.
     Reply
    Rocketknight was starred Rocketknight was unstarred
    Image of RoboBagins RoboBagins
    12/14/09

    In reply to Octopus Uses Coconut Shells as Portable Armor
    As long as the beat the smirks off the faces of Dolphins when they reach human level intelligence first, I'm fine with our future 8 limbed brain brothers.

    Stinking, smiling dolphins. They think they're so cute...
     Reply
    Edited by RoboBagins at 12/14/09 11:55 AM RoboBagins was starred RoboBagins was unstarred
    Image of Pessimippopotamus Pessimippopotamus
    12/14/09

    @RoboBagins: Ah yes. The dolphins. The sharks of the seas.
     Reply
    Pessimippopotamus was starred Pessimippopotamus was unstarred
    Image of Roklimber Roklimber
    12/14/09

    In reply to Octopus Uses Coconut Shells as Portable Armor
    Octopus Bones to Octopus Spock:
    "Are you out of your coco nut?"
     Reply
    Roklimber was starred Roklimber was unstarred
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